The scene was now indescribable. The boom of cannon from without, the bands of music within, mingled with the wild huzzas of the multitude, and the uproar was deafening. Banners and flags were seized by willing hands and waved over the head of the new-made hero. Now he was called on for a speech, but he could not speak; he sat in his chair on the stage, dazed and speechless with emotion, and seemed as one awaking from a dream.

James Abram Garfield

Garfield was not the choice of the Chicago convention. Not a score of the delegates, perhaps, would deliberately have made him their choice for President. His nomination was an accident. The chances of Windom or of Edmunds or of Washburn would have been considered far better than his, when the convention met. But he became the darkhorse nominee, because he happened to be on the uppermost crest of the popular wave when the inevitable break came.

His nomination proved salutary to the party.

The politicians at first demurred; but the people rejoiced that the party was rescued from the threatening factional quarrel, and all were soon united for the success of the ticket, the Grant wing having been placated by the nomination of Chester A. Arthur of New York for second place.

The career of Garfield was a notable one. He had sprung from the commonest walks of life. His father was a plodding farmer, hewing his living from the sparsely settled forest of northern Ohio, where James was born in 1831. Two years later the father died. As the boy grew toward manhood he yearned for an education, and between the working hours-on the farm in summer, in the carpenter shop in winter, and occasionally driving the mules of a canal boat-he succeeded in preparing for college. Having taken a classical course, he became a professor and then president of Hiram College. 1859 he was elected to the Ohio legislature, where he attracted attention by his eloquence and straightforwardness, especially when upholding the cause of the Union at the out

In

break of the war. Soon after we find him at the front, leading a band of troops against the forces of secession. His most brilliant work on the battle-field was at Chickamauga, where he did more perhaps than any one else except General Thomas to save the Union army from rout. In the autumn of 1862 he was elected to the Lower House of Congress, and, thinking the war would soon be over, he resigned his commission in the army, and entered the legislative halls at Washington. Here he served for eighteen years without a break, representing the famous district that had for so many years been represented by Joshua R. Giddings. He steadily rose in the estimation of his fellows, until, in 1877, when Blaine was transferred to the Senate, Garfield succeeded him as leader of the party in the House. In January, 1880, Garfield was chosen by the Ohio legislature to a seat in the United States Senate; but, before entering on his new duties, he received the nomination for the presidency at Chicago.

Garfield was not great or brilliant; he was sturdy, honest, reliable. He did not excel in

social circles; as long as he lived it was not difficult to see that he was country bred. He kept himself thoroughly informed concerning the business of Congress. His industry was prodigious. No schoolboy could improve his time better or study more diligently than did Garfield. A little incident will illustrate. One day a friend came into his room and found Mr. Garfield deeply engrossed in a pile of books on his table. Seeing that all the books were about the Latin poet, Horace, the friend asked what it meant. "I find that I am overworked and need recreation," answered the Congressman. "My theory is that the best way to rest the mind is, not to let it be idle, but to put it at something quite outside of the ordinary line of employment; so I am resting by learning all the Congressional Library can show about Horace."1 General Garfield, however, was wanting in one important respect as a statesman and a leader he lacked will power. It was not difficult for him to stand among the foremost in advocating a party measure; but it was not in his fibre to stand

1 Philadelphia Times, June 9, 1880.

out alone, and advocate a measure on principle. One of his cotemporaries, who was also his friend, has spoken of him as a "moral invertebrate." It is not strange, then, that when the new President chose a stronger man than himself for secretary of state, the latter should become the dominant force in the Administration.

The Closing Scenes

The Democrats nominated General Winfield Scott Hancock, the hero of Gettysburg, to head their ticket, and William H. English of Indiana for second place. Hancock was an admirable character- not a statesman, but an ideal soldier, and the qualities of the soldier in those days appealed to the people more readily than anything else. Not even the Republican press attempted to find fault with Hancock. But the Democratic tidal wave of a few years before had greatly subsided, and Garfield was elected.

Garfield chose Blaine secretary of state. This was galling to the Stalwart leader of New York. Conkling had been deeply cha